Learning Thai

Sick boy

We haven't been getting much blogging done around here, so I thought we'd just catch up on all of June at once by showing you some family pictures. Tom and I are grateful to be done with the fevers and Silas seems to be recovering today too. He's on his fifth day of fever and hopefully his last! He's been to the dr. and is on antibiotics and cough medicine, so hopefully this will all clear up quickly. Thanks for all your get well notes and prayers!

A little recap of June...

We've enjoyed the occasional rains and are looking forward to the real downpours coming more frequently as the rainy season picks up.

I turned 33 and had a wonderful day as the birthday girl. Tom took me out for a wonderful brunch and the whole team came over for church and more celebrations in the evening.

Eliza adjusts to life as a school girl. She often comes home looking freshly powdered after her naptime. One of her favorite traditions is stopping for a bubble tea on the way home. She has some good days and some not so good. Pray for her to understand her teachers and feel comfortable at school.

Silas is graduating to table food. Fried Rice- yum!

Grilling out seems like a June kind of thing to do, doesn't it...even though it seems like June all year here! The whole family loves Tom's chicken wings and grilled asparagus (Eliza calls it circus)!

Uncle Seri is still a faithful attender of the Tuesday night Bible study. Please pray for his eyesight.

Claire is one tooth poorer and 20 baht richer since she lost her top tooth. Growing up!

Celebrated father's day with brunch, cinnamon rolls, and a homemade book from the girls. We are so thankful that C, E, and S have such a wonderful Dad!

Otherwise, we are keeping busy with team life and English teaching jobs. Also enjoying the fact that June is one time that I am not envious of your weather! :) Hope you are enjoying summer too....

-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday the girls came home from school with medical face masks. Swine flu (or "The 2009 flu" as it's now called here) has been spreading and several schools around the country have been temporarily shut down due to outbreaks. I took our camera along this morning when I dropped off the girls and took some pictures during the opening assembly. As you can imagine, it's pretty much impossible to make a school-full of kindergartners keep these too-large masks on for very long!

Claire was chosen as one of the flag-raisers today - they have one boy and one girl raise the flag each morning while they sing the national anthem. This is one of the highlights of the day for Eliza - she loves to belt out "Prateet Thai ruam..."

Apparently the sight of "Teacher Tom" with his camera was enough to distract these boys from their chanting.

Eliza and two of her classmates. She's learning the names of the kids in her class and likes to come home and tell us which ones are naughty.

In a development that we hope is unrelated to the swine flu, Candice and I are both sick today. Thai people say that this time of the year has "bad weather" - it gets really hot, then it rains, then it gets hot. Thankfully the kids are all still healthy - so you can pray that they stay that way and that we make a quick recovery. Thanks!

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's another crime re-enactment photo. This man entered a convenience store with a fake gun and demanded money. The lady working behind the counter pulled out a sword and swung it at him. He actually tried to fend her off with an umbrella (this was all captured on the store's security camera) but finally fled. He was eventually captured and he confessed. I thought it was interesting that they made her use a plastic toy sword for the re-enactment...maybe for the safety of the would-be robber?

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We recently had Silas's Thai name put on a shirt- just wanted to show you....This says Nong Si (Little Brother Silas)- what all his Thai friends call him.

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For the past month or so, our friend Pon has been competing in a singing competition at the largest recording company in Thailand. The competition is being televised and the winner gets a recording contract. (The music style that he sings is "luuk thung" - a kind of country music.) Pon made it into the final six and yesterday was the day they picked the final three. He invited some of us to go with him to the studio, so Claire and I went and spent the whole day watching the competition. It was a very interesting experience to see the behind-the-scenes preparation that goes into shooting a TV show. All six finalists sang for a panel of judges, were interviewed by the host, and got feedback from the judges. And in between, the host recorded all of his lead-ins and teases about what would be coming next.

Even though we all thought he sang very well, Pon was unfortunately not chosen as one of the final three. He (and we) were disappointed, but he handled it well and is glad for the opportunity that he had to go this far in the competition.

The recording was done in a very small studio - and most of the contestants only had one or two friends and family members with them. So, the six foreigners there cheering for Pon really stood out. The host mentioned us during his introduction and they then asked us to wave for the camera. So, when all of this airs next week we'll have our few seconds of fame. (The show is only broadcast on a cable TV channel - so it will be very limited fame.)

Pon singing - something about a heart being erased. (The "luuk thung" songs strike me as even more corny than American country music.)

Listening to the judges criticism (they were pretty harsh with everyone) along with another contestant and the host.

Claire takes to the stage. She was a big hit with the staff. The host kept practicing his English with her and one of the camera operators repeatedly videoed her - so she would show up on the studio TV screens, much to her embarrassment.

And on the way home we walked past this typical Bangkok traffic jam. Thankfully we were using the Skytrain!

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)